Unreliable narrators

[loveisagirlnameddaisy]

I've taken the plunge and am writing with purpose. I've had a loose idea for ages but don't nothing with it.

I feel fairly sure that I want my main character to be an unreliable narrator, but what do people think about writing this in the third person? That's my comfort zone. However, the more I see this style, the more I notice the stories are written in the first person.

Is it possible to craft a convincing unreliable narrator in the third person?

Interesting question about whether the third person narrator and the author are necessarily the same person though? You assume so - but the gradual reveal otherwise could be great.

@ThePlantsitter

Interesting question about whether the third person narrator and the author are necessarily the same person though? You assume so - but the gradual reveal otherwise could be great.

What do you mean by the third-person narrator and author being the same person, @ThePlantsitter?

@subulter what I mean is that the narrator and the author are not generally the same character in fiction. It might feel like they are but there is always a 'voice' and it doesn't necessarily belong to the author. Say for example you were writing a fairytale and using a very old fashioned fairy tale kind of language - who is telling the story? Is it 20th century Subulter on a pc in a study or is it an old man in an armchair by a roaring fire? It's the character created by the voice, even if you never 'meet' them. In books like 'Vanity Fair' the narrator makes themself very present in the telling without being present in the narrative (or writing in first person as far as I remember though I may be wrong) and I don't think that is necessarily Thackeray the person talking, for example.

[quote ThePlantsitter]@subulter what I mean is that the narrator and the author are not generally the same character in fiction. It might feel like they are but there is always a 'voice' and it doesn't necessarily belong to the author. Say for example you were writing a fairytale and using a very old fashioned fairy tale kind of language - who is telling the story? Is it 20th century Subulter on a pc in a study or is it an old man in an armchair by a roaring fire? It's the character created by the voice, even if you never 'meet' them. In books like 'Vanity Fair' the narrator makes themself very present in the telling without being present in the narrative (or writing in first person as far as I remember though I may be wrong) and I don't think that is necessarily Thackeray the person talking, for example.[/quote]
Ah, ok. I can confidently state that my narrators are not me. One was born in 1875, quite apart from anything else.

Why do you want this to be third person?
‘L’Etranger’ by Camus comes to mind.

Also check out ‘The Good Soldier’ by Ford Maddox Ford

@Notoironing

Why do you want this to be third person? ‘L’Etranger’ by Camus comes to mind.

The main reason is that I write more naturally in the third person.

A third person narrator is removed from the action so it would be hard to authentically justify the reason for the unreliability.

One possibility might be to describe the action/events from the different perspectives of the various protagonists. So each version is told as if it were objective but with the in-built subjectivity of any witness.

Is this to be a pseudo third person narration that reveals itself as a character speaking in the first person at some stage? That's not really an unreliable third person, that's just a shift effectively from third to first person that forces the reader to re-evaluate now they know what's what.

Ford Maddox Ford has a wonderfully limited first person narrator in The Good Soldier. As the character narrating is closely involved in the action but strangely inert, it has the effect of feeling like an unreliable somewhat third person narration. However the goal there is clear and I question what your goal is because you will need one. For Ford Maddox Ford, the unreliability of the narration creates a reading experience that mirrors the effect of the central protagonists upon the narrator, and demonstrates the emptiness of what they all accept as real. Without a reason to do it that advances your theme, I would wonder if you would be interpreted as inconsistent.

The Western Wind (by Harvey?) has a first person narrator who is absolutely first person and unreliable in that they reveal the truth about themselves so gradually that we cannot form a fixed opinion. It is very cleverly done. But it doesn't feel like the narrator is trying to be difficult, only that he hasn't got around to telling the whole story. So that reads more like a who dunnit than an unreliable narrator. It is helpful to the plot in placing the reader in a position where they realise they have judged without knowing all the facts, which is sort of what the novel is about. So again the form advances the theme and facilitates the unfolding events of the story. It does take a big commitment from the reader and you risk losing them like Boris is losing credibility now, I suppose.

I'd be interested to know what draws you to this.

@HoundOfTheBasketballs

I've recently finished a book called Mrs March by Virginia Feito where this style is pulled off, I think, quite effectively.

I’ve just read that too & yes, I agree.

I must reread these, so brilliant.

Agatha Christie's The Murder of Dan Ackroyd
I'd read that.

Close third person narration is almost identical to first person narration in terms of psychic distance - you're right inside the head of the main character - so I don't see why this couldn't work. Mrs. March, as mentioned by a few people above, is a great example.

Late to this thread but want to jump on as I’m attempting to write something like this. It’s third person but very close, the reader sees inside the head of one main character. It’s not exactly that she’s unreliable, more that because the reader is so close to her perspective, it should take a while for them to realise that the people around them are not all that they seem, as it dawns on them that she’s kidding herself about a lot of things. So the facts are reliable - the narration isn’t lying - but the perspective is a bit warped. I don’t know if that makes sense… or if I’m managing to pull it off! But I’m finding it an interesting style to write :)

Very late back to this thread, but I just finished Mrs March (thank you to the poster who recommended it) and it's an excellent example of an unreliable third person perspective!

Roger Ackroyd?

@Grammarnut
Ha very good point.

To clarify I believe Dan Aykroyd is very much alive and well and hasn't been murdered!!

Sorry Dan!